Thread by @InteriorMuseum

The #MuseumWeek celebration of museums worldwide is back! The first of 7 daily themes is one of “beginning,” i.e., #OnceUponATimeMW. We’re jumping in with a thread on the backstory of our own @InteriorMuseum. (1/9)

In 1935, the @Interior’s responsibilities are expanding and have outgrown its WWI-era HQ building. 32nd Interior Secretary Harold Ickes endeavors to build a new HQ – the 1st federal building in Washington DC to be fully conceptualized & built in the FDR administration. (2/9)

Realizing that @Interior is a large, complex agency, constructing the new 1930s HQ is also seen as an opportunity to be more to be more transparent and relevant to the American people. One of many new elements specified for inclusion is a public #museum. (3/9)

By May 1935, the Public Works Administration has allocated $100k for @InteriorMuseum, unique in a Cabinet-level agency as a “new instrument in the field of public relations.” Ned Burns (1899-1953) with the @NatlParkService is tasked with making it a reality. (4/9)

By the end of 1935, a skilled team of 21 has been assembled at the @NatlParkService's Eastern Museum Laboratory (no longer in existence) in Morristown, New Jersey, to develop inaugural exhibits for the @InteriorMuseum. (5/9)

A year later (autumn 1936), fabrication operations for the museum have transferred from New Jersey to @NatlParkService spaces in DC’s @FordsTheatreNPS and at Virginia’s Fort Hunt. (6/9)

The @InteriorMuseum opens to the public in March 1938 in nearly 8,000 square feet of the recently-completed HQ building. It showcases 95 exhibit units, 1,000 objects, nearly 500 photographs, 250 maps & charts, 100 models, 12 large wall maps and countless text panels. (7/9)

83 years later, collections have grown, and appearances have changed, but the museum’s mission remains the same: to inspire & educate employees and visitors about @Interior's ongoing stewardship of the nation’s public lands, heritage & natural resources. (8/9)

For more on @InteriorMuseum's early history, see artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/storie… and (/end)

#OnceUponATimeMW